


elf's lament.

by porcelainsimplicity



Series: christmas stories [10]
Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Advent Challenge, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Christmas, M/M, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 10:40:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16891011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/porcelainsimplicity/pseuds/porcelainsimplicity
Summary: I make toys, but I've got aspirationsMake some noiseUse your imaginationGirls and boys, before you wish for what you wish forThere's a list for who's beenNaughty or nice, but consider the price to an elfor:  John and Jubilee work at a mall's Santa Claus display as elves, John tells her to pick the bar for the night, and Jubilee picks one that John has some history with.





	elf's lament.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so this year I decided to do an advent challenge. It's not part of anything official going on here at AO3. This is a list of prompts that I got elsewhere. I am going to thoroughly enjoy the hell out of this, however, because these prompts are awesome. All of the twenty-five fics that will be forthcoming will be in the X-Men movieverse fandom, though not all will be the same pairing. There is a ton of John/Bobby fics coming though. A TON.
> 
> The prompt for day seven: Your main character is one of Santa's elves at a mall's Santa Claus display.
> 
> Day seven title song: Elf's Lament by Barenaked Ladies

“Next.”

John fought back a yawn as another mother with young children filed into the area where the fake Santa Claus was, sitting her children on the man's lap and standing next to the chair. John paid enough attention to make sure that the woman wasn't cropped out of the picture, snapped the photo, and tuned the whole situation out. It was nearly eight p.m. on a Friday night, and instead of getting wasted in a bar and trying to find someone hot to go home with, he was dressed in the most ridiculous elf costume he'd ever seen and taking pictures of crying children as they sat on a stranger's lap.

The things he did for some money.

“Next.”

He glanced over at his fellow elf, a woman named Jubilee who looked as excited as he felt, and as he lined up the picture of the next family, he leaned over to her. “Jubes, you want to get a drink when we get out of here?”

Jubilee just rolled her eyes. “I am not sleeping with you.”

“I didn't say that,” John pointed out, snapping the picture and tuning the situation before him out again. “Besides, you're not the type I go for anyway.”

“And what type is that?”

“Let's just say you don't have the right appendages, shall we?”

Jubilee looked down at the child in front of her before looking over at him. “Sorry. I didn't know. And I've been such a you know what to you about asking me that every night too.”

“It's fine,” John said, fighting off another yawn. “I just thought maybe we could bond over this ridiculous job with some libations.”

“Libations?” Jubilee almost laughed out loud. “You actually say that?”

“In the right moments,” John said, shrugging. “Come on.”

Jubilee glanced behind her at where the fake Santa was holding a crying baby before nodding. “Lord knows I need a libation after today.”

John bit back a laugh. “Pick the place then, okay? I'll give you a ride.”

“Sounds good to me. Next.”

John stumbled along through the monotony of the last hour of his workday before all of the families in line had been taken care of and he could rip that stupid elf hat off his head. The fake Santa had his cigarettes out before he could blink, and John bummed one off of him before the creepy man who liked for young children to sit in his lap disappeared. He helped Jubilee close down the place and then they were walking out into the parking lot and to John's car. John leaned up against the driver's door and lit the cigarette as Jubilee was on the phone with someone named Kitty talking about someone named Piotr, and he had it almost completely smoked by the time she finished talking. 

“You know Ice?”

“Ice? Have you seen the ground?”

“The bar Ice, you fucking moron,” Jubilee said, shaking her head. “That where we're going.”

John swallowed hard at that. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm sure. You said I could pick the place. Now let's go.” 

John dropped the cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out with his shoe, opening up the car door and getting inside. He half-watched as Jubilee fumbled around in the passenger seat as he drove, and by the time he was pulling into the parking lot at Ice, she'd somehow changed almost all of her clothes. 

“What the fuck?”

Jubilee just rolled her eyes. “Like I'm going in there in that fucking outfit. I'm looking for a man, not trying not to attract one. Besides, I knew you wouldn't be looking and even if you caught a glance, it wouldn't excite you. Honestly, if you'd told me you were gay days ago then this could have already happened.”

John shook his head as he pulled into a parking space, getting out of the car before he took off as much of the stupid outfit as he could but still be presentable enough to go into a bar.

To go into that particular bar.

He wasn't about to tell Jubilee the history he had with Ice. No fucking way. But as he approached the door and had a mild freak out moment about going inside, Jubilee noticed that he was no longer walking with her and turned back to face him. 

“John? You coming?”

“I can't go in there,” was what came out of John's mouth and he cursed himself under his breath.

“Come on, John. Everyone in there is totally wasted by now. It's fine.”

John just shook his head. “No, I seriously can't go in there.”

Jubilee huffed and made her way over to him, taking one glance at the look on his face before sighing. “Who's the guy? Someone who frequents this place?”

John swallowed hard. “More like the guy who owns it.”

Jubilee's jaw dropped. “Bobby Drake? You've fucked Bobby Drake?”

“It was a bit more than that.”

Jubilee's gaze narrowed. “How much more?”

John reached up and scratched the back of his neck. “Um, we lived together for almost three years?”

Jubilee reached out and smacked him on the shoulder. “What happened?”

“He met a girl named Marie,” John said, amazed that he got her name out without his voice breaking down. “I can't see him.”

“Marie? You're worried about Marie?” Jubilee laughed. “Oh honey, you've got nothing to worry about. Marie is long gone.”

“She is?”

“Oh yeah. She cheated on Bobby with this guy that came into the bar a lot. Cajun accent. Called himself Gambit. None of us really know his real name. Anyway, she took off with him about three years ago. Bobby's talked to us about the one who got away ever since, and I know he isn't talking about her.”

“How?”

“I just do.”

John stared at her for a moment before Jubilee linked her arm through his elbow. “He calls the one who got away Johnny.”

“He what?”

“You're coming into this bar with me, and we're sitting you down at a table, and then you're going to leave everything else to me, okay?”

“Jubilee, I...”

“You'd take him back in a heartbeat, wouldn't you?”

John just nodded. “I love him like I've never loved anyone else.”

“Then let me orchestrate the grand Christmas reunion,” Jubilee said, grinning at him. “Come on.”

John started walking with her, his hands shaking at the thought of being face to face with Bobby again. He ignored the stares when they walked in, refused to think for a second about what it was he was wearing, and Jubilee deposited him at a table in the back and told him to stay. Part of him wanted to get up and run as soon as she walked away, but John forced himself to stay in the chair. 

Maybe what Jubilee was saying was right. Maybe Bobby really did think John was the one who got away.

He dropped his gaze down to his hands and didn't look up until he heard a bottle and a couple of glasses hit the table, and then he was staring into the ice blue eyes that he would recognize anywhere. He swallowed hard as Bobby reached for the bottle and poured them both a glass, sliding one across the table to him. He grabbed it and downed it, letting the vodka burn his throat for a moment. He put the empty glass back on the table and stared across it, refusing to speak first.

Bobby got the hint after awhile and poured them both another drink, and John downed that one just as quickly as the first. This cycle repeated itself four more times before Bobby finally sighed and said something.

“I'm sorry.”

John sat there waiting for him to say more but he didn't, so he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at him. 

Bobby took a deep breath and tried again. “I'm really fucking sorry. Like, more than I can put into words sorry. I regret everything I said, everything I did. It was all one big motherfucking mistake from start to finish and it cost me the only thing that's ever truly made me happy, and that was you. I don't know why you're in here tonight, or why that friend of yours who is always in here seems to think that you want to hear any of this, but since you're here I might as well have said it.”

“Why? All I want to know is why,” is what John finally said after another glass of vodka, and Bobby inhaled sharply.

“I was terrified of losing my family,” Bobby said quietly after a moment. “I knew you were so frustrated with me because my parents still thought you were just my roommate and that telling them was a priority, but I freaked out every time I actually thought about sitting down and telling them about me and about you. Then Marie came in here one night and was flirting like crazy with me, and I just thought...I thought she might be a way I could keep my family. And I realize now that it was the stupidest decision I've ever made, because my family was you. My family was the family we could have had together. I didn't need my parents anymore. I had you. And then I hurt you so badly in an attempt to keep them in my life, and I just, fuck.

“When I finally told them the truth, I told them that I lost the best thing that ever happened to me because I was so scared of telling them the truth. And, as I thought, they didn't take things very well, and so I haven't spoken to my parents in three years and probably never will again. It just made me realize that I didn't need them the way I thought I did. What I did need, however, was you. But you...I had no idea where you were, I had no clue how I could ever make amends for what I did, and I knew you'd never forgive me for it anyway, so I didn't seek you out. If that makes me an even bigger dick than I already am, I'm sorry. But it's the truth.”

John softened after listening to Bobby's explanation and he had another glass of vodka before he spoke again. “I'm sorry they reacted like that.”

“Not your fault.”

“I know that was hard for you to do.”

“Not as hard as realizing how badly I'd fucked this up was.”

John sighed and reached across the table, tangling his fingers together with Bobby's. “You don't deserve another chance.”

“I know I don't.”

“But I'm going to give you one.”

Bobby's head shot up and he stared at John. “What?”

“I have missed you every second of every day since the moment you left,” John said softly. “I didn't know what I'd done wrong but I was willing to change absolutely everything about my life whenever you just came and told me what it was. But you never did and I just assumed you were happy. Now you're telling me that you weren't, and God, Bobby, I love you too much to just pass up this opportunity to have you back.”

“Really?”

“We're starting over though,” John said seriously. “You have to wine and dine me again. You have to win me back.”

“I can do that,” Bobby said, squeezing his hand. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“What the fuck are you wearing?”

John started laughing. “Promise me we can fuck in your office like old times and I will tell you all about it.”

Bobby just grinned. “I have absolutely no problem agreeing to that.”

“Then let's go.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

Bobby stood up and John did the same, and Bobby took him by the hand and led him past the table Jubilee was at. John smiled at her as they passed and Jubilee let out a yell. 

“Fuck yeah, Johnny boy. Enjoy yourself. I'll see you at work tomorrow.”

John just laughed all the way to the office.


End file.
